Al-Hilal coach Simone Inzaghi has ruled out coaching the Italian national team in the near future, stating his great happiness working in Saudi Arabia and his desire to complete his full contract with the Blue Wave.
Inzaghi is one of the highest-paid coaches in the world, earning €27 million with Al-Hilal, who currently sit second in the Saudi Professional League.
The former Inter Milan and Lazio coach’s name has been mentioned as a possible successor to Gennaro Gattuso following Italy’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup for the third consecutive time.
When asked about the matter, Inzaghi replied, “I’m flattered, but as I said, I’m happy here and I have another year left on my contract with Al-Hilal.”
He added, “It saddens me greatly that Italy will not participate in the World Cup for the third time in a row. I am 100% Italian, and my brother won the World Cup. I am absolutely certain that Italian football will recover very soon; I always follow it with great interest.”
He added, regarding his reasons for moving to Al-Hilal, “Money only? That’s definitely wrong. Earning money is exciting, but what motivated me to come here were other considerations. I didn’t need the money.”
He concluded, “My years at Inter were very satisfying professionally, but they were also very exhausting. I wanted a completely new experience in a completely new environment.”
Inzaghi led Inter to the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles, and reached the Champions League final twice, but failed to lift the trophy after losing to Manchester City in 2013 and Paris Saint-Germain in 2015.
